Winemaker Notes
Fruit is chosen from these two renowned Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc regions to create delicious, expressive wine. Fruit from the Wairau Valley brings bright tropical fruit underlined by acidity. Awatere Valley fruit provides richness and depth with notes of herb and a dry finish.
Giesen winemakers suggest pairing the Estate Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc with Thai green chicken curry and fresh coriander.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
This mouthwatering white offers passion fruit, pineapple, peach and Key lime flavors on a sleek and juicy frame. Drink now.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2020 Giesen Sauvignon Blanc is an excellent effort. TASTING NOTES: This wine exhibits aromas and flavors of dried herbs, tart grapefruit, and savory spices. Pair it with steamed mussels over al dente pasta. (Tasted: January 11, 2021, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Enthusiast
Once the reductive onion and seashell aromas blow off, the pungency of this quintessential Marlborough Sauvignon remains. The wine also offers citrus and tropical fruit along with more vegetal ones like shelled peas and tomato leaf. The palate shows a lovely balance of freshness and textural weight
Capable of a vast array of styles, Sauvignon Blanc is a crisp, refreshing variety that equally reflects both terroir and varietal character. Though it can vary depending on where it is grown, a couple of commonalities always exist—namely, zesty acidity and intense aromatics. This variety is of French provenance. Somm Secret—Along with Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc is a proud parent of Cabernet Sauvignon. That green bell pepper aroma that all three varieties share is no coincidence—it comes from a high concentration of pyrazines (herbaceous aromatic compounds) inherent to each member of the family.
An icon and leading region of New Zealand's distinctive style of Sauvignon blanc, Marlborough has a unique terroir, making it ideal for high quality grape production (of many varieties). Despite some common generalizations, which could be fairly justified given that Marlborough is responsible for 90% of New Zealand's Sauvignon blanc production, the wines from this region are actually anything but homogenous. At the northern tip of New Zealand’s South Island, the vineyards of Marlborough benefit from well-draining, stony soils, a dry, sunny climate and wide temperature fluctuations between day and night, a phenomenon that supports a perfect balance between berry ripeness and acidity.
The region’s king variety, Sauvignon blanc, is beloved for its pungent, aromatic character with notes of exotic tropical fruit, freshly cut grass and green bell pepper along with a refreshing streak of stony minerality. These wines are made in a wide range of styles, and winemakers take advantage of various clones, vineyard sites, fermentation styles, lees-stirring and aging regimens to differentiate their bottlings, one from one another.
Also produced successfully here are fruit-forward Pinot noirs (especially where soils are clay-rich), elegant Riesling, Pinot gris and Gewürztraminer.